Spring Break 2006! Chicago!!

Hey all!
This is the official post covering everything that I did over my latest Spring Break!
On Thursday night (March 9th), my beautiful and wonderful Auntie Kathy drove all the way over here to IU to pick me up and take me back to Cinci! We had a great time around the campus (although it rained the whole time! blah!) and discovered a new shopping center! (with a kohl's! yes!) I had such a great time with her (favorite Auntie? Hmm....). Then on Friday night I went, along with 18 of my other family members, to Lakota West High School to see my cousin Kara in their school's musical, 42nd Street. What a great show! NOTHING like Grandview's musical, no offense G-view. I loved it. On Saturday night, I went back to my old high school to see Grandview put on Fiddler On The Roof. For being such a dramatic and dark play, I thought that they did VERY well. That was great to see a lot of my old friends up there on stage- also very weird to actially watch the musical. I hadn't done that in over 5 years!
But, the REAL Spring Break occured on Sunday morning when my good friend, Trophie and I left Columbus for Chicago ! Woohoo! I set out driving, and except for a little mix-up with some Mapquest directions around Indianapolis, we got their successfully in the late afternoon. Our hotel (Club Quarters) was located RIGHT on the river (perfect location) just a block away from Michigan Ave. and two blocks away from the Theatre District. On Sunday night, after walking around some, we ate at Pizzaria Uno to get some good ol' Chicago Deep Dish Pizza (SOO good), and then went back to the hotel (after getting caught in the rain- eek!) and watched "The Nanny" (which was officiall dubbbed the show of the trip- we watched it whenever we were in the room! What a great show...).



Here's our hotel. Boy, was it hard to find that little blue awning amidst the big chicago buildings!

On Monday, the weather was wonderful- we walked up and down Michigan Ave. without any coats or anything! It was great. We started out our day with some croissants (mmmmm.....) and shopped, shopped, shopped. We ate lunch at Navy Pier while we were there looking at all of the deserted shops. It was a fun place to go and look at all of the little trinkets and everything. By the end of the day, I bought some clothes at Filene's Basement and GAP, Trophie didn't get anything. (I tried to urge her to get something, no such luck). That night, we went to see "Transamerica" in one of the movie theatres downtown (a GREAT movie- I recommend it for ALL to see) and then we went to the cheesecake factory in the ground floor of the John Hancock Tower for SINLY desserts. mmm.... so much for lent, haha.
On Tuesday we went to the Chicago Museum of Art and saw so many famous works of art. I didn't realize how many famous pieces were right there in Chicago! Then we walked all the way to the Field Museum and saw a fabulous Pompeii exhibit (which I would have NEVER chosen if it were just me- I'm so glad that Troph wanted to go see it), I learned a lot from it. Those poor people from Pompeii! We walked back to our hotel (Tuesday was the day that it was pretty cold), and since the walk back from the Field Museum took exactly one hour (Troph timed it, haha), and it was cold, we just wanted to get back to our beds, hehe. We watched some T.V. and got ready to see WICKED! What an amazing show that was. I agree with my Aunties when I say that I think that it is the best show that I have ever seen. The vocal abilities of those witches! Amazing! The sets and costumes were very good too- it really changed the way that I thought of the original "Wizard of Oz." EVERYONE should see that show.
Wednesday morning we got up and while Troph contemplated getting real Burberry shoes EVEN MORE (this was an ongoing battle through the entire trip), I took advantage of the "Free Coffee Day" at all of the Starbucks. (yes, I was a'buzzin')Finally, after the shoes were purchased (whew!) and the great shoe-debate was over, we walked to Cereality (an ALL CEREAL cafe- Allison's Mecca) and grabbed some great breakfast. Finally the shoes were purchased (whew!) and we were on our way our of Chicago. The drive back was fine, but definitely felt longer than the drive there.
Being back home was great, though. Since I had only been there for one day before I left, it felt great to be in my own house. Overall, the trip was amazing. I know that I will always remember it. Remind me to show y'all my pictures! Hope that your Spring Break went well/is going well!

-a
(I tried to get more pictures on here but Blogger seems to be acting up- just remind me to show you the rest of them when I see you!)